As if you could kill time without injuring eternity

I loved Thoreau when I was a kid. Everything just seemed so true and wise. Most of it still is, but then there's life. Life (at least my life) doesn't have much room for waxing philosophical, but the killing time thing is something that has always stayed with me.



I stay busy. I use my time wisely. I have down time, because it's important, but it's down time I plan to have. Last night, I went to the lap band support group meeting. I had to miss out on a much more important meeting (to me) to be there, as well as a nice night for a boat ride, time to do homework, etc... I went because I promised I would go. Both my nutritionist and the NP from my surgeon's office encouraged me to go, because I've been having good results, and they thought I could share some of my successes with the folks who are struggling. I promised I would go, so I cleared the time in my schedule to be there, and it wasn't easy.



I left work early yesterday to go to an MD appt. They are testing my thyroid and iron levels, and I'll know more about that today. When I met with a PA last week about my gallbladder, she was shocked that my thyroid dose hadn't been lowered since I have lost 140 lbs, and I thought she had a good point. If your levels are off in either direction, it can send your whole body out of whack.



I made plans to go for sushi with Alison before the meeting, and I had a lovely picture of her with her napkin across her top, in an efforts to prevent her entire shirt from becoming polka dotted with soy sauce. Unfortunately, blogger pics doesn't seem to be working right now. We had a delicious dinner, and then we went for a short walk in downtown Winchester.



We arrived at the meeting a little early, and the group was separated into two rooms: pre-op and post-op. The nutritionist, NP and surgeon are all supposed to attend the meetings, and they split up between the groups. Only the nutritionist was there, so we did not have a group leader on our side. I realize my MD is a surgeon, and sometimes surgeries take longer than planned, but I'm not sure why they couldn't have anyone else from the office scheduled as a back up for these circumstances. I rearranged my schedule to be there, and the hospital is an hour from my house.

At the very least, if no one is there for the post-op group, combine the meetings instead of doing it at the end, so that we aren't wasting every one's time. I guess other people are much more patient than I am because at 6:45 (the meeting started at 6:30), when no one had arrived to speak to our group, Alison and I left.

I would like to note that I saw a lot of post-op folks who seemed to be doing great! At least three of them appeared to be at their goal weight. It's really cool seeing people I remember from last year when they were much heavier, and seeing them now as thin! It's exciting, and I'm proud of them! I often get the vibe from my MD's office that they don't think the lap band is very successful, and that their lap band patients aren't happy with their results, but I saw a number of people last night having great results, and I think that's awesome.

I will not be attending any future support group meetings. It's too much trouble to get there, and rearrange my schedule to attend, knowing there's a shot I may be waiting for a long time for the meeting to start. I do wish my fellow bandsters the best of luck, though.

***
When I got home, I was able to salvage some of the night. Our friend Dennis stopped by, and he took us on a sunset boat ride. It was so beautiful and relaxing. It was just what I needed after an aggravating incident. After the boat ride, I got some work done, watched TV and went to bed.

I woke up today with a headache. I'm not looking forward to seeing my dentist this afternoon.

I weighed myself on Alison's scale (which is always right, and matches the MD's scale), and then I weighed myself again when I got home. My scale appears to be off by 8 lbs. As long as that's correct, I was down another 2 lbs today for a total of 143. I will be buying a new scale soon, though, because I don't like guestimating. That seems right to me, though, because my clothes are getting looser and looser as we speak. :)